


Claudia’s Endeavour

by Galfridus



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Aaravos is fun to write, Canon Typical Violence, Canon compliant hopefully, Dark Magic, Exploration of what happened at the end of the series, Father-daughter dynamic, Major character death consistent with canon, spoilers for the end of season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:39:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21552397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galfridus/pseuds/Galfridus
Summary: Claudia has been betrayed and has lost everything. She has only one choice, or so she thinks, and it is the beginning of her doom.Dialogue at the end of this story taken from the TV series.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 49





	Claudia’s Endeavour

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this! This is my first try at writing for The Dragon Prince. Let me know if you like it! All feedback appreciated.

They ran. Claudia swallowed hard to choke down the bile that had splashed into her mouth, her jaw clenched and her stomach twisting in fury. Soren - her own brother, the goofy fool who made her laugh ten times a day, twenty times even with his harmless stupidity - had stabbed their father right in the gut. He had aimed to kill. She watched as Soren sped away from the vision she had created, the vision he had deliberately slain, his armoured boots clanking with each hurried step and a bit of her heart died as he fled. 

She wanted to follow, to punish the traitor and the false king Ezran who followed at his side. But she had her instructions. Reluctantly Claudia forced herself to move away from the battlefield towards the spire of rock, the huge edifice jutting out of the smoking ash that had once been the ground and was now a wasteland. Her explosion, not to mention the dragons’ fire, had decimated the area, charring the air and upending rubble. Many had perished and it smelled strongly of death. 

Shaking her head, Claudia slipped around the patrolling elves, keeping out of sight. Survivors of her father’s army were being rounded up, manacled and chained, led away in disgrace. The defeat was complete, or so it appeared. She let forth a sigh of relief as lightning flashed across the sky, streaks of obsidian and cyan chasing each other in a dense whirlwind that reached to the very heavens. Her father had found the dragon prince, and was in the act of absorbing his power. It was all going to be alright. Lord Viren would win this encounter and they would be a family, father and daughter, just like she had always wanted. 

Then came the scream. Claudia’s hand flew to her mouth as the sky was rendered with a piercing wail. She leaned heavily on the golden staff, its core seeped with dark magic and peered up as best she could at the gathering clouds. Banks of grey plumed like great feathers over the sky, blotting out the sun and she could see nothing at all for several moments. All she could do was look and look, her chest seizing and her heart beating hard against her ribs as the scream grew louder and louder and louder. 

She gasped as a bird flew down from the sky. But it wasn’t a bird. It was too small, too thin, too… _human_ in appearance. It was Callum! Callum was flying with hazel wings, plummeting through the air towards two falling figures who were dropping like stones to the rocks below. Claudia watched, rage the like of which she had never known bursting over her vision and through her veins as the prince of Katolis plucked one of the fallen out of the sky, pulling the figure towards him and soaring away. It had light hair and green clothes. It was that _elf_. The one who had tricked her atop the Cursed Caldera. Callum took her away, saved her, and left the other figure who she knew must be her father to plunge to his inevitable death. 

Claudia ran. She ran and she ran, her legs aching as she hurtled over the stones, wobbling as her foot caught on loose pieces of rubble but managing to stay upright, adrenaline keeping her going. She ran, one thought buzzing in her brain. _Let him be okay. Do whatever you like to me but let him be okay. Please! I can’t lose anyone else._

When she reached the foot of the mountain it was too late. Her father lay broken and crumpled and his face a mess. A real mess. He looked _awful_ . He was grey and sagged, his skin lined with deep, dark veins, his eyes which were open were dull and clouded. And she knew it was more than the fall. It was the magic he wielded. Had she not felt it herself? The way it tore at her insides, settling over her soul and souring her mind. Her father was wrecked. He had destroyed himself from the inside out, all to protect _her_ , their family and all of humanity, even her ungrateful shit of a brother. And how had humanity repaid him? Just like Soren they had rejected his council, rejected his care and his wisdom in favour of a nonsense spouted by a stupid boy with no brains and no reason and daydreams of peace. 

She touched him. He was cooling and there was no pulse. 

“No!” Claudia yelled. “Not today!”

Scooping Lord Viren up in her arms, his daughter half pulled, half dragged him to the entrance of a cave carved into the side of the dragon king’s mountain. The better part of it was cast into deep shadow, but the light penetrated a little way into the space so that it was just possible to see in the part near the opening. It was here she placed her father, close to the cool breeze. What could she do? She looked around desperately before dropping the staff and rummaging in her bag, tipping the contents out on the floor. She would save him. She must! But how? 

“There must be a way!” she cried. 

As if in response, a chill settled over the air. Claudia whipped round, her heart leaping into her throat as the insect crawled in, the dark blue monstrosity that had taken to draping itself around her father’s neck like a creepy scarf. It looked up at her with beady eyes then dropped something at her feet before scuttling up the wall to the corner of the cave. Claudia winced as it started to spin a cocoon, silver light glowing like stars to illuminate the whole space. 

She looked down at the bird thrown at her feet and smiled. It was _powerful_. Even without touching it she could feel the magic resonating around her. But would it be enough?

With a hurried glance at the strange creature that clicked its jaws as it spun its new home, Claudia retrieved her staff, picking up the bird by its neck. She looked at it. Its feathers burned with a fiery gold, its eyes flashing like diamonds. It was truly beautiful, a rare and stunning creation. But she did not hesitate. Quick as a whip she squeezed, ignore the squawk of horror and the strangled cry, ignoring the blood that pounded in her ears, ignoring the nausea, the saliva that pooled unpleasantly in her mouth and the pang in her heart that told her everything about this was _wrong_. Staff before her, the bird’s magic flowing through her form, she recited the incantation, the one from the very back of the book, the spell on the last page. The one that would resurrect the dead. 

Lord Viren stayed completely still. Claudia panted hard as the spell ended and her vision returned to normal. “No!” she screamed, her voice echoing from the walls of the cave. “No. No! NO! That should have worked!”

“Patience child.” Claudia’s mouth fell open, her eyes widening as she looked towards the pulsing mass of silver and silk. The insect was now fully encased within its cocoon, and she could see it within the shining membranes. She could _hear_ it. Well, not hear it exactly but somehow even though no words were spoken aloud she could sense its meaning perfectly. “You need more power,” it told her in sonorous tones. “Try again. Wait until you have enough to proceed.”

At that very moment another bird flew into the cave and Claudia sprang into action, zapping it with her staff to catch it in a sticky net she had conjured. She sat at the entrance to the cave, waiting as more and more of the birds made their way inside as if drawn to the being that was no doubt calling them. Or perhaps it was the light. Either way, it was working. She did not eat, did not sleep for two whole days as, one by one, the birds found her, ready for capture. 

“It is time.” 

Claudia shook her head, displacing somnolence and rubbing her eyes free of sleep. There were hundreds of the birds now tacked to the wall, their feathers mingling with the stickiness of her web. She looked up at the insect, holding her breath, but it said nothing more. Had it even talked to her at all? Was it all just a dream?

Only one way to find out. With a cry, Claudia squeezed her fingers to a hard fist and the net tightened, squashing the birds within. Once more she recited the incantation as their power was forced from them to percolate through the cave, imbuing her with their combined strength and power. She raised the staff, channeling the energy and surrendered herself to the gathering gloom. The spell fell from her tongue, taking over as black descended over her vision and she saw the world as if through glass dark as ebony. She could not move, not even a muscle, the spell binding her to an impossible stillness. She could not breathe, could not think. The staff was pulled from her grasp and she felt as if her soul would break. It was agony. Absolute, excruciating agony. She was going to die. And all she could do was watch as her father took a shuddering gasp and her world smashed together, the elements of the world breaking her apart. 

And then it was all over. 

Lord Viren groaned and rubbed his face. “W-what’s going on?” he managed to rasp out. 

“You’re alive!” With a jolt, Claudia drew a shuddering breath into her lungs, the threat of extinction fading as her vision returned to normal. 

Her father was back to his old self. He was whole, his skin soft and unlined, untainted by the effects of magic. He looked as she remembered from her childhood. She let out the breath she had not realised she was holding as Lord Viren gave a low groan and then opened his eyes, the disgusting gelatinous silk that had webbed over his right orb vanished away with the rest of his injuries. 

He looked about him, confused and afraid. “Somehow I… I survived the fall?” 

“No. You didn’t.”

Claudia stepped forwards, her boots clopping on stone as she moved towards him to cup his face. Her father frowned then gazed at her in absolute horror. “But, you’re okay now,” she croaked out past the lump in her throat, tears beginning to spill from her eyes. He was okay and she was okay and now everything was going to be alright. 


End file.
